Refuse destructor



J. E. ALLEN. ET AL l REFUSE DEsTRUcToR July 27, v1937.

Filed July :5, 1930 INVENTORS Patented -July 27, 1937 ,UNITED STATESREFUSEl DEsraUcToa EohnV. Allen, Michael J. Blew, and Albert C. Wood,Philadelphia, Pa.

Application July 3, 1930, Serial No. 465,566

4 Claims.

Our invention is an improved refuse destructor designed particularly forthe dehydration and incineration of wet sludges containing aconsiderable amount of `combustible material, and

leading objects of our invention are the avoidance of caking or ballingduring dehydration, the elimination of offensive odors resulting fromcombustion and the utilization of the heated products of combustion inan eicient manner in dehydrating further refuse and heating air forcarrying on combustionso as to minimize the amount of supplementary fuelrequired in the operation of the destructor. Further objects of ourinvention are Vthe provision of destructor apparatus of l5 simple andrugged construction which can be economically erected and operated,which occupies relatively little floor area, and in which the refusematerial maybe dried at a rate compatible with its character.

In the preferred embodiment of our improvements, a metallic drum isrevolubly supported adjacent to its ends by peripheral tires carried bysuitable rollers.` The intermediate section of the drum is housed withina furnace chamber through which heated gaseous products of combustionare diffused by vanes on the drum. Such gaseous products of combustionmay be deodorized by passage through a highly heated refractory checkerwork or regenerator and after discharge from the chamber surrounding thedrum may be utilized for the preheating of air for carrying oncombustion. 'Ihe heated air is discharged through a grate to' which fuelmay be fed and to which the drum discharges dehydrated refuse dried byits pass-age through the drum which contains agitators, preferablyconsisting of heavy i, chains and ploughs, for preventing caking orballing of the refuse and facilitating its movement through the drum.The rate at which the refuse is introduced into the drum may beregulated by a mechanical feeder.

The characteristic features and .advantages of our improvements willfurther appear from the following description and the accompanyingdrawing showing an illustrative embodiment of .our invention.

In the drawing Fig. 1 is -a longitudinal sectional View of a refusedestructor embodying our improvements; Fig. 2 is a View takentransversely to Fig. 1 looking toward the discharge end of the drum andpartly in section and partly in elevation; and Fig. 3 is an enlargeddetailed transverse sectional view of the drum and -agitating chains.

As illustrated in the drawing, a furnace setting l of suitablerefractory material forms a furnace 2 and a drum chamber 3 dividedtherefrom by a refractory checker work baiile 4 which retards thepassage of combustible gases and effects thorough admixture therewith ofburned out 5 gases. The furnace contains an inclined grate 5 to whichaccess may be had through the fuel door A drum l has Xed thereon tires 8which roll on rollers 9 9'. The intermediate section of the10 drum isdisposed in the chamber tand one end thereof discharges into an upperportion 2' of the furnace 2. Access to the compartment 2 and to the druml may be had through the man-hole l0 normally closed by the cover il.The joints 15 between the drum and the walls of the furnace setting maybe sealed by flanges i2 disposed in the annular grooves i3 on the drum.

The inletgend of the drum is provided with a header Ill having an axialopening for the pas- 20 sage of a spout I5 which makes a sealed jointwith the header and to which regulated amounts of refuse are deliveredby the adjustable rotary pocket feeder Iii supplied from the hopper ll.

A series of heavy non-fouling chains E3, certain 2- of which areindicated in Fig. 3 and all but one of which are omitted in Fig. 1 forclearness are hung on eyelets 48a. at frequent intervals around theinner periphery of the drum and along the length thereof, and a seriesof vanes or ploughs I9 are xed within the drum, particularly adjacent tothe outlet end thereof. The chains and ploughs agitate and break up themass of sludge and prevent the adherence thereof to the Walls of thedrum, and the inclined ploughs i9 35 also facilitate theV movement ofthe dried products through and from the drum.

The external periphery of the drum section within the chamber 3 haswelded thereto a series of narrow steel plates 20 to augment the absorp-40 tion of heat from the gases through the drum or shell, and also todiffuse the gases through the chamber 3 so as to heat all parts of thedrum and supplement the action of the arches 2l in preventing direct owof the heated gases to the 45 stack 22. The stack 22 contains airpreheater tubes 23 through which air is forced by the blower 24 throughthe conduit 25. A conduit 26 communicating with the bottom of thepreheater delivers the heated air through the port 2l to 50 the ash-pit28 below the grate 5.

It will be understood that in the operation of the apparatus a bed ofincandescent matter is maintained upon the grate 5, such matterconsisting either of previously dried refuse or sup- 55 plementary fuelintroduced through the fuel port 6 or both. The sewage or sludge issupplied to the hopper I1 and the feeder I6 is rotated to feed thesludge at any desired rate to the inlet end of the drum. The drum isrotated by any suitable means through the sprocket or gear 29 and thesludge is fed through the drum. The sludge is dried both by theapplication of heat externally to the drum in the chamber 3 and to someextent by direct action of heat radiating from the passage 2 into thedrum. The chains I8 break up and agitate the sludge as the drum isrotated, and when the partially dried sludge reaches the ploughs I9 itis further broken up and its passage through the drum facilitated. Thedried refuse is discharged from the discharge port of the drum into thefurnace 2 where it is burned on the grate 5 and the passage of gaseousproducts of combustion from the furnace are retarded by the checker workbaille 4 until they have been deodorized, when they pass into the drumchamber 3 to heat and dry further refuse passing through the drum. Thedeodorized and partially cooled gases then pass to the stack 22 Wherethey are further cooled as a result of absorption of heat therefrom byair forced through the preheater 23 by the blower 24. Such heated air isthen discharged to the furnace 2 to provide air for the combustion ofthe matter in the furnace. Should the refuse contain insufficientreadily combustible matter to maintain the desired temperature,supplementary fuel may be introduced from time to time through the portG.

Having described our invention we claim:

l. A refuse destructor comprising a cylindrical rotatable drum, meansincluding a grate for heating the drum, means at opposite ends of thedrum for feeding refuse to, and discharging it from the drum, the gratereceiving the discharge, eyelets secured to the inner surface of thedrum in circumferential and longitudinal staggered relation for adistance from the feed end of the drum, and chains each secured only atone end and to one of said eyelets, said discharge means includingploughs secured to the inner surface, near the discharge end, of thedrum.

2. A refuse destructor comprising a rotatable drum, roller supportsadjacent to the ends thereof, a furnace having a chamber in which anintermediate portion of the drum is housed, vanes on the drum diffusinggaseous products of combustion through the chamber, means including ahighly-heated open refractory checker work in said chamber fordeodorizing said products, means receiving said products after dischargefrom said chamber for preheating air for carrying on combustion in thefurnace, a grate to which the drum discharges dehydrated refuse, saidair discharging through said grate, agitator chains and ploughs in thedrum preventing caking of the refuse and facilitating its movementthrough the drum, and mechanical feeder means for regulating theintroduction of refuse to the drum.

3. A refuse destructor comprising a drum movable about an axis passingtherethrough, means for feeding refuse into the drum at one end thereof,a furnace to which said drum discharges at its other end, means forminga chamber surrounding a portion of said drum and to which said furnacedischarges, a flue leading from said chamber, said drum having anexposed portion between said furnace and means, supports without saidchamber and engaged by said drum, said drum rotating on said supports,and means mounted on said drum and rotatable therewith to disseminateproducts of combustion from said furnace through said chamber.

4. A refuse destructor comprising a drum movable about an axis passingtherethrough, means .Y

for feeding refuse to the drum, chains suspended from the insideperiphery of said drum, a propelling device disposed in said drum, agrate to' which said drum discharges, a refractory checker work at theopposite end of said grate from said drum discharge and to which heatedproducts of combustion are discharged from said grate, means forming achamber surrounding said drum and to which said checker work discharges,baffles fixed to said drum and increasing the heat absorption thereofand dispersing gaseous products of combustion through said chamber, aflue leading from said chamber and an air preheater operativelyassociated with the flue and connected to deliver preheated air belowsaid grate.

JOHN E. ALLEN. MICHAEL J. BLEW. ALBERT C. WOOD.

